Stroke and cardiac disease remain a major cause of morbidity and result in profound suffering and expense. Increased awareness and improvements in diagnostic procedures have significantly increased the diagnosis of cervical and intracranial and cardiac vascular stenosis. A vascular stenosis is now being treated endovascularly at a significantly increased frequency. However, follow-up has predominantly been by angiography which evaluates the vascular contour but not the vascular wall. It is invasive, time consuming and expensive. Preliminary studies suggest that stent evaluation and restenosis pathophysiology can also be evaluated with Multi-detector Computed Tomography Angiography (“MDCTA”) which would be a significant advantage of this technique over conventional angiography.
More specifically, endovascular therapy has ushered in a new age of minimally invasive vascular treatment. Endovascular devices have been rapidly developed and refined. Present technologies have enabled precise deployment of stents in much smaller arteries and have become more flexible and compliant so they can be navigated through tortuosities. At the same time there has been a growing pool of physicians trained in modern endovascular therapies so services are more widely available. However, the monitoring of these patients has become suboptimal because it relies on conventional angiography which is invasive and expensive. It also requires the patient to spend a full day removed from their daily activities. It also requires that some patients on anticoagulation briefly discontinue their therapy or be admitted to the hospital for an extended period of time. New MDCTA technology has not been widely used or validated for follow up. However, preliminary case studies seem to indicate that this technology is likely to provide additional beneficial information about the vascular wall and stent not obtainable from conventional angiograms. MDCTA is also non-invasive, requires a minimal amount of time and is less costly. MDCTA now has an axial resolution less than 0.5 mm and with the proposed development of new protocols and algorithms for image processing, this will be a superior tool to evaluate stenting and the etiology of any restenosis or stent failures. In particular, it will likely be able to separate negative remodeling from neointimal growth. It will also be able to evaluate for stent deformity and wall apposition as well as remodeling. MDCTA should also be applicable to other endovascular procedures such as follow up for aneurysm coilings.
Indeed MDCTA reflects a number of advances in medical imaging that allow real time and/or three-dimensional image gathering under Computed Tomography (“CT”), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (“MRI”) or the like. For example, CT scanners such as the Toshiba Acquillion multi detector are capable of generating images in three different areas at frame rates of 13 frames a second, to thereby generate a three-dimensional rendering of the target area. Indeed, this and other advances in CT have led to the development of new CT applications including CT Angiography (“CTA”), and CT Perfusion (“CTP”). These imaging modalities are rapidly developing into powerful tools in the diagnosis and treatment of both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke and bilary occlusion. See, for example, the following prior art references:                Kopp A F, Ohnesorge B, Flohr T, Georg C, Schroder S, Kuttner A, Martensen J, Claussen C D. [Cardiac multidetector-row CT: first clinical results of retrospectively ECG-gated spiral with optimized temporal and spatial resolution] Rofo Fortschr Geb Rontgenstr Neuen Bildgeb Verfahr. 2000 May; 172(5):429-35.        Ohnesorge B, Flohr T, Becker C, Knez A, Kopp A F, Fukuda K, Reiser M F. [Cardiac imaging with rapid, retrospective ECG synchronized multilevel spiral CT] Radiologe. 2000 February; 40(2):111-7        Achenbach S, Moshage W, Ropers D, Nossen J, Bachmann K. Non-invasive coronary angiography with electron beam tomography: methods and clinical evaluation in post-PTCA follow-up Z Kardiol. 1997 February; 86(2):121-30.        Becker C R, Schoepf U J, Reiser M F. Methods for quantification of coronary artery calcifications with electron beam and conventional CT and pushing the spiral CT envelope: new cardiac applications. Int J Cardiovasc Imaging. 2001 June; 17(3):203-11.        Kopp A F, Schroeder S, Kuettner A, Baumbach A, Georg C, Kuzo R, Heuschmid M, Ohnesorge B, Karsch K R, Claussen C D. Non-invasive coronary angiography with high resolution multidetector-row computed tomography. Results in 102 patients. Eur Heart J. 2002 November; 23(21):1714-25.        Achenbach S, Ulzheimer S, Baum U, Kachelriess M, Ropers D, Giesler T, Bautz W, Daniel W G, Kalender W A, Moshage W. Non-invasive coronary angiography by retrospectively ECG-gated multislice spiral CT. Circulation. 2000 Dec. 5; 102(23):2823-8.        Knez A, Becker A, Becker C, Leber A, Boekstegers P, Reiser M, Steinbeck G. [Detection of coronary calcinosis with multislice spiral computerized tomography: an alternative to electron beam tomographyZ Kardiol. 2002 August; 91(8):642-9.        Mahnken A H, Sinha A M, Wildberger J E, Krombach G A, Schmitz-Rode T, Gunther R W. [The influence of motion artifacts conditioned by reconstruction, on the coronary calcium score in multislice spiral CT] Rofo Fortschr Geb Rontgenstr Neuen Bildgeb Verfahr. 2001 October; 173(10):888-92.        
However, despite these advances in medical device technology, and in particular stent technology and imaging technology, prior art stent technologies have certain limitations when viewed under such CT machines, particularly due to beam hardening artefacts that are typically present, which thereby obscure the image and obviate or reduce the effectiveness of the CT machine as a post-operative diagnostic tool
Due to these present limitations using MDCTA, it is common to rely on classical angiography for postoperative evaluation of endovascular procedures, yet such angiographic methods are invasive and expensive. In the USA, an angiogram can cost up to $8000.00, yet a corresponding MDCTA could be offered for as little as $400.00. Additionally, endovascular ultrasound has significant associated risks and is not suitable for the small intracranial vessels. In the end, it is believed that MDCTA has the potential to provide good visualization of the lumen as well as the arterial wall and stent. MDCTA actually visualizes the stent better than fluoroscopy and will likely prove to be the preferred technique when background subtraction is used to increase vascular conspicuity. It is also believed that MDCTA would also enable more precise outcome evaluation and allow for investigation of the underlying pathophysiology as well as evaluation of the stents and devices used.
Polymer or lipid based drug delivery systems that can deliver drugs at a defined rate for up to five years from a single treatment have revolutionized medical therapy. Drug coated coronary stents have been shown to decrease restenosis rates in large clinical trials. See for example, the following references:                “Sirilimus eluting stents versus standard stents in patients with stenosis of the coronary artery”, Moses et al. New England Journal of Medicine, page 1315-1323 Oct. 2, 2003 Vol. 349, No. 14.        “Paclitaxel stent coating inhibits meointimal hyperplasia at 4 weeks in a porcine model of restenosis”, Heldman et al. circulation 2001, 103-2289-95.        “A Paclitaxel eluting stent for the prevention of coronary restenosis”, Park et al. New England Journal of Medicine 2003, Vol. 348, page 1537-45.        
With respect to the drug delivery systems there are several types available at this time. These are principally those that are biodegradeable or those that are non biodegradeable. Biodegradable polymers release their loaded agents as they break down, while the matrix of non-biodegradable polymers remain intact even after all of the therapeutic agent has been released. These polymers release their loaded material by a process of either bulk erosion or surface erosion and diffusion or degradation. The polymers and co-polymers that are available at the present time include ethylene vinyl acetate (“EVAc”), a hydrophilic non biodegradable polymer, and biodegradeable polymers such as hydrophobic polymers such as poly[BIS(p-carboxyphenoxy)]propane-sebacic acid (“PCPP:SA”), hydrophilic polymers and fatty acid dimer-sebacic acid (“FAD:SA”) polymers that deliver drugs including hydrophilic drugs and compounds
A process such as lyophilization can be used to load the polymer with the desired compound or drug or compounds or drugs. In this was PCPP:SA, a desired compound such as iodinated contrast material, and methyl chloride may undergo the lyophilization process to load the PCPP:SA with a material with the ability to attenuate x-ray radiation and be visible on a radiographic image.